Pageant Exhibition Panel 19 - The calling out the rolls of the Militia
Item Information
- Title:
- Pageant Exhibition Panel 19 - The calling out the rolls of the Militia
- Description:
-
The Lancaster Militia all lined up during Episode IV, The Minutemen, in the Lancaster, Massachusetts 1912 Fourth of July Pageant. The photograph shows the Lancaster Militia in a line, while a man reads out a prayer to the men. Women bow their heads and weep. On the morning of April 19, 1775, the news that the British troops under General Thomas Gage had left Boston for Lexington and Concord, and that the first shots had been fired there in the American Revolutionary War reached Lancaster. The calls went out across the region, and men swarmed to the town common to join the American forces and come to the aid of Boston. In the end two hundred and fifty men set out from Lancaster. Most remained in Cambridge for only two weeks, but a third remained in service for the remaining months of 1775. The photograph is mounted on heavy cardboard and has text describing the activity and history depicted in the photograph. The text for this image has been transcribed. Pageant at Lancaster, Massachusetts, July 4, 1912.MINUTE-MEN "When on the morning of April 19, 1775, the hurrying horseman sped through the town, shouting news of the sudden irruption from Boston of Gage's hated red-coats, almost before the clatter of galloping hoofs had faded away as a fresh horse bore the alarm courier westward, the roar of the town's four pounder field-pieces signaled the not unespected tidings, and speedily there swarmed from farm and shop down the Bay Road, under six company leaders, two hundred and fifty resolute men, eager to meet and drive the invaders back. it is possible that a part arrived in season to take active part in the fray, although no casualties were reported. The companies remained at Cambridge about two weeks, but many of the men were allowed to return to their homes some days sooner. About one in three enlisted for the remaining months of 1775 in the provincial service." Abridged from "Military Annals of Lancaster," by Henry S. Nourse.On the same morning Colonel Abijah Willard, the richest and one of the most prominent citizens of Lancaster, who as a Loyalist, and especially as one of the hated Mandamus Councillors, had become very unpopular among his fellow-townsmen, fled to the British lines in Boston, never to return.
- Creator:
- Sears, Richard
- Contributor:
- Thayer Memorial Library
- Date:
-
July 4, 1912
- Format:
-
Photographs
- Location:
- Thayer Memorial Library
- Collection (local):
-
Thayer Memorial Library Archives Collection
- Subjects:
-
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783
Minuteman (Militia)--Massachusetts--Lancaster
Lancaster (Mass.)--History--Drama
Fourth of July celebrations--Massachusetts--Lancaster
Library exhibits--Massachusetts--Lancaster
- Places:
-
Massachusetts > Worcester (county) > Lancaster
- Permalink:
- https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/bk129081n
- Terms of Use:
-
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
- Language:
-
English
- Notes:
-
Image is the nineteenth photograph in the Lancaster Massachusetts 1912 Fourth of July Pageant Exhibition created by the Thayer Memorial Library.
From the archives at the Thayer Memorial Library, Lancaster, Massachusetts. http://thayermemoriallibrary.org
- Identifier:
-
1912-PAG-19
pageant_exhibition_panel19_the_calling_out_the_rolls_of_the_militia
